Part 1, Chapter 10, 11

The moment I revealed my identity to Lee Seung-hyung.

He channeled mana throughout his body and threw a full-power straight punch.

“Very Hero-like of you.”

A fist shot straight towards my face from the front. I crossed my arms into an X and thrust them upwards.

Pa-ang!

Lee Seung-hyung’s fist grazed past the top of my head.

“What?!”

Lee Seung-hyung was flustered, perhaps because he couldn’t attack his desired spot, or perhaps because he hadn’t expected me to actually block his attack.

And that brief opening led to death. I extended my leg forward and pushed my arm out.

Kagagagang!

My mana and Lee Seung-hyung’s mana, wrapped around us like protective auras, collided, sending sparks flying. I instantly dove inside Lee Seung-hyung’s guard, uncrossed my arms, and threw a short punch.

“Kuk!”

A straight punch aimed at his abdomen. But Lee Seung-hyung managed to extend his other hand and barely caught my fist.

“Not bad.”

It seemed he hadn’t neglected his basic combat training, even while active as an actor. I infused mana into my captured fist and pulled slightly.

“Then how about this too!”

I twisted my waist slightly to add rotational force. It was a short inch punch, but its destructive power was stronger than the punch Lee Seung-hyung had first thrown.

Ku-ung!

Lee Seung-hyung tried to deflect my attack by pulling his body back. As he retreated half a step, the inch punch lost some power, but if he created distance, I just had to take another step forward.

“Hmph!”

Another step forward. I thrust my fist in the same stance as the previous punch. This time, Lee Seung-hyung also crossed his arms to set up a guard.

Ku—ung!

Lee Seung-hyung’s body was pushed back half a step. Lee Seung-hyung blocked my punch in the exact same way I had blocked his.

“Hup!”

If we were exchanging blows, it was now my turn to receive his attack. Lee Seung-hyung uncrossed his guard and tried to grab my wrist.

But I couldn’t let someone like Lee Seung-hyung easily touch this body.

Ka-ang!

“Huh?!”

Lee Seung-hyung grabbed my wrist. He grabbed the black gauntlet that had transformed through partial monsterification. I kicked off the ground, ran forward, and lifted my leg.

“Phoenix Punch!”

“?!?!”

Lee Seung-hyung was momentarily flustered by my words and couldn’t lower his guard. I straightened my bent leg and kicked Lee Seung-hyung’s leg.

“Kugh!”

Thanks to the kick to the side of his knee pit, Lee Seung-hyung’s body slumped. The knee of his kicked leg touched the ground, and finally, the gaze that had been looking down at me became level with mine.

“Hmm.”

Lee Seung-hyung’s pupils were burning white. Having awakened as an S-rank fire-attribute ability user and gained his own color, he possessed a pure white flame.

“Hmm.”

My color had seeped slightly into his flame. Changyeom was faintly but clearly revealing its presence within the white flame. Perhaps when he reached SS-rank, blue and white would merge into one.

“Listen closely. The reason I made you cough up blood in Guro wasn’t because I couldn’t defeat you.”

Kung!

I chopped down on Lee Seung-hyung’s shoulder with the edge of my hand. He raised one arm to guard, but his upper body bent forward, still in guard.

“It was because I didn’t have time to deal with you.”

“……You’re strong. Truly.”

From the moment I revealed myself as a Villain, Lee Seung-hyung threw away his manners. There was no reason for a Hero to use honorifics with a Villain, but as soon as he dropped the formalities, I felt a bit annoyed.

“Why are you speaking informally? Who gave you permission to do that?”

“…? That was a monologue.”

“Why are you speaking your monologue out loud? Making people misunderstand.”

“Then I’ll correct myself. You are indeed strong.”

Lee Seung-hyung’s fighting spirit blazed. But I had no intention of fighting further.

“Stop. If I fight you, I’ll have to appease the person blocking the road over there.”

“You mean the Praetor?”

“Yes.”

“……So SS-ranks only play with other SS-ranks, huh?”

“It’s not about playing, but about being a good match. You died once in 10 seconds.”

The claw of my gauntlet, which Lee Seung-hyung had grabbed, was pressing against his Adam’s apple. I poked his neck with my index finger and then created distance.

“Anyway, you’ve clearly felt the difference in power now, so don’t recklessly challenge me. If things go wrong, I’ll kill everyone.”

“……A Villain who killed Gwanggeom-nim would surely burn down New Seoul in no time. But.”

Lee Seung-hyung still held up his fist, not giving up his fighting spirit.

“No matter how strong the opponent, Heroes do not back down!”

“Your spirit is admirable, but it was the Hero Association that invited me, you know?”

“Isn’t that because they didn’t know your true identity!”

“Well, even if they can’t guess my identity, it seems many people have a rough idea about the relationship between Cheonghwa and Phoenix, don’t they? Fufufu.”

Both of them appeared as Villains in Seoul from the start. Even if they don’t think they’re completely the same person, most people have noticed that human Cheonghwa and Villain Phoenix have at least some kind of relationship.

“Only a fool wouldn’t know. You said it yourself. Blue flame. Can’t you tell just by looking?”

I lifted my blue, wavy hair with my hand. Lee Seung-hyung frowned and shook his head.

“Who in the world believes such absurd things?”

“But it’s reality. I am Phoenix, and Phoenix is me.”

“……I’ll correct myself.”

Lee Seung-hyung clenched his fist and declared to me, as if making a promise to himself.

“Thank you for saving Gaeul-ssi, thank you for giving me strength, and thank you for exposing Seonui Cheol uncle’s evil deeds. But!”

“My methods are wrong?”

“…Yes! There was no need to kill people!”

“I killed them because they deserved it. …Well, I understand your thoughts.”

I tilted my head slightly.

“Heroes have their ways, Villains have their ways, and I have my own way.”

“Does Gaeul-ssi understand that?”

“She understands, which is why she’s by my side, isn’t she? She does object to various things, but… well, you don’t need to know that.”

I raised my fist.

“Sometimes, fists are faster than the law. Right?”

“But even so.”

“You threw a punch as soon as you found out I was Phoenix, didn’t you? If you were so devoted to the law, you should have reported me. Fufufu.”

“…….”

Lee Seung-hyung’s expression twisted. I released my mana and cleared my throat to change the subject.

“Anyway, I understand your intentions. You have no intention of joining hands with Villains, just like the Praetor, right?”

“Surely you haven’t…. How many people have you already swayed?”

“Fufufu. Think carefully about who I have a secret relationship with. You and the Praetor should try to find out.”

I jumped onto the rooftop railing. Lee Seung-hyung reached out in surprise, and I, with the moon behind me, looked down at him and made my final declaration.

“If you tell others Cheonghwa’s true identity, it won’t be fun. At that time, there will be no city called New Seoul on this land.”

“Are you threatening me now?”

“Is there a problem with a Villain threatening a Hero? And.”

I spread my arms wide.

“My organization, the Azure Syndicate, is recruiting talented individuals. If you’re interested, come to Seoul. Even if you don’t join, we’ll accept you as an ally or friendly force.”

“……So you’re trying to win people over with power as bait.”

“That’s right. For example.”

*Snap.* I snapped my fingers. The flame bomb embedded in Lee Seung-hyung’s heart instantly died down, then flared up even larger than before.

“I can take away your power like this, or increase it. Perhaps… even raise you to SS-rank?”

“Even if it means living my entire life as an S-rank, no, as my original A-rank, I will not join hands with Villains. If I were to succumb to your temptation and join hands with you.”

White flames blazed in Lee Seung-hyung’s eyes.

“That would be no different from you becoming a second Seonui Cheol to me. I don’t want to experience something like that again.”

“Being treated the same as that bastard pisses me off a little.”

From Lee Seung-hyung’s perspective, I was no different from Seonui Cheol, so I couldn’t refute him. But at the same time, I felt a little regret.

‘He has almost heroine-level potential.’

His talent was comparable to that of the 10 human heroines with the potential to become the strongest in the world.

It was unexpected that he attacked first, but I deliberately sparred with him to confirm his potential.

‘Probably S+. ……95?’

If I just gave him a little more help, he could cross the threshold of 95 and reach the SS-rank. But just as a provincial governor won’t accept a position if they don’t like it, Lee Seung-hyung was adamantly refusing to collude with me.

“What a waste. If you were a Villain, you would have been my best disciple.”

“It’s a pity. If you were a Hero, you would have been the best master.”

Excluding the element of Cheon Gaeul, from the perspective of a ‘Player’ who enjoyed the original game, Lee Seung-hyung was a top-tier talent who should be recruited first.

I wondered why such talented individuals always had such a strong sense of justice that they never strayed from the path, but perhaps it was precisely because of that sense of justice that they continued straight down the right path without going astray.

“Hmm.”

Even if I couldn’t guide him, I could at least be a signpost.

The more S-ranks there were to fight monsters, the better.

“A month from now. I don’t know exactly when, but I’m going to create an academy in Seoul for training ability users.”

“Not a Villain training ground?”

“Yes. Active Heroes, retired Heroes, Hunters, Villains, unawakened ability users, ordinary people. It’s an academy exclusively for ability users, where anyone with talent can enter. ……Though for now, it’s called a ‘university’.”

I conjured a flame and threw it to Lee Seung-hyung. Lee Seung-hyung calmly received the flame, which held no malice, and it soon turned into a small medal.

“It’s an admission free pass. With that, you’ll be accepted without question, so if you’re interested, stop by. Got it?”

“…….”

Lee Seung-hyung stared at the medal in his hand for a long time. While he was lost in thought, I checked the time. It was time to leave.

“Xiaolin.”

“Yes.”

Xiaolin, who had been blocking the rooftop entrance, appeared beside me. As soon as I called her, she passed through the door in her spirit form without opening it, and then materialized beside me on the railing.

Kwang!

The rooftop door burst open, and Heroes from the Association, including Baek Hui-a, entered the rooftop.

“Cheonghwa-yang! Just, just a moment-“

“I have a curfew, you see. Sorry. I’ll be going first.”

Xiaolin wrapped her arm around my waist and leaped off the railing. Xiaolin, who had lightly jumped from the rooftop of a multi-story building, ran through the air and landed on the roof of the bus I had parked beforehand.

“My Lord.”

“Yes.”

I opened the bus door. Inside, the elite forces of the Azure Syndicate, who had followed me, were each preparing their Core Weapons.

“Sorry for making you all come all this way for nothing. If Gaeul had been kidnapped or something, I was going to overturn the Association and everything else.”

I revived the monstrous humans I had hidden within my embrace. Gaeul was the first to materialize and sit in a chair.

“You brought so many. Were you planning to cause a terrorist attack if something happened to me?”

“Not a terrorist attack, but a war. Now, we’re heading back to Seoul.”

“Phew.”

The members sighed in relief at my words about returning to Seoul. They seemed nervous, probably thinking I might actually launch a terrorist attack against New Seoul and the Association.

“……Even so, they really thought I’d commit a terrorist act.”

“You would have done it if something had happened to Cheon Gaeul.”

“I admit that.”

I would have hunted down not just the terrorists but also those behind the terror and twisted their necks. I sat in the driver’s seat, buckled my seatbelt, and started the bus.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot a very important mission. I’m taking volunteers.”

I turned my head to the back of the bus, looking for someone to carry out the mission, but no one easily raised their hand.

“I will go.”

Yooishin, holding a bow, stood up with a solemn face. He looked as if he would truly die if told to.

“Infiltrating enemy territory is my specialty. Any mission-“

“My mouth’s getting bored on the way, so go buy some food from the convenience store.”

“…….”

“You can bill Kim Ji-hwa for the money later. Oh, are you disappointed it’s not rest stop food? Please bear with me on that. There aren’t any rest stops on the way to Seoul, you know.”

Yooishin left without a word.

For a moment, on the way to Seoul.

I bit into a hot bar and drove down the highway at night. I couldn’t understand why Cheon Gaeul kept glancing at the driver’s seat.